The Mark
The morning sun painted gold across Yue Lan's sheets as she woke—naturally, peacefully, without the usual groggy haze. Then she remembers she didn't take sleeping pills. She blinked, a little happy, stretching. No nightmares. No exhaustion clawing at her bones. Just… quiet.
Strange.
Morning Routine
The shower steamed up the bathroom, hot water sluicing over her skin. She toweled off briskly, fingers raking through damp hair as she bent forward to dry the ends—
And froze.
A glint of silver, just barely visible between the curves of her bust. Frowning, she angled her phone's camera downward, squeezing her cleavage slightly to get a better look.
Her breath hitched.
There, nestled in the soft dip where her breasts met, was a perfect yin-yang symbol—no larger than a coin, its lines crisp and precise, black and silver intertwining like ink spilled under her skin.
What the—?
She scrubbed at it. Pressed her nail into the center. Nothing. It wasn't a sticker. Wasn't a smudge. It was part of her.
The Clinic
The dermatologist's gloved fingers prodded at the mark, her magnifying lens casting a light over it. "Fascinating," she murmured. "No inflammation, no foreign ink infusion. The pigmentation extends into the deeper dermal layers—it's not a tattoo. It's biological."
Yue Lan's grip tightened on the exam table. "Can you remove it?"
"We can try."
One Week Later
The chemical peel left her skin raw. The microsurgery stitches itched. Yet, the mark remained.
Yue Lan glared at her reflection, the skin around the symbol still pink and healing. The damn thing hadn't faded—if anything, the silver seemed brighter, the edges sharper, as if her body had stubbornly rebuilt it.
Fine. If science can't remove it...
She closed her eyes, exhaling slowly. A thread of internal energy—Ming Jin, honed through years of disciplined training when she was young—coiled down her meridians, brushing against the mark—
Suddenly her eyes widened as the Symbol glowed and her consciousness got pulled into a seemingly imaginary but absolutely beautiful world.
A world of inverted skies. Lotuses bloomed upside down, roots drinking from a mirrored lake that stretched endlessly. Bridges of gold arched over nothing, leading to pavilions that floated midair.
And two shadows,
"Took her long enough," a woman's voice echoed.
"Should've left instructions," a man chuckled.
Two silhouettes stood by the celestial lake—
Snap+
She returned. Yue Lan gasped, slamming back into her body. Her knees hit the bathroom tiles, fingers clutching at the mark—now cool and inert. What the hell?
Where was she? she checked the time on her phone. Its already 9.
Her phone buzzed. A notification from her assistant: "Ms. Yue, the 10 AM meeting with Qin Group representatives has been moved to Conference Room F at 11am."
Leaving questions behind she mechanically got ready blaming everything on stress. Got ready for the monotonous work.
ALU
Meanwhile, on Han Chen's end.
Han Chen and Hye Won were in their third semester classes. While classes were continuing, Hye Won would reach out via their private communication for every bit of her doubts.
Its been nearly a week since their previous adventure. Now, as they were in their morning classes. Han Chen was trying to meditate, eyes closed, appearing to meditate. His focus, however, was split. One thread followed the law lecture, maintaining appearances. The other was linked across space to the woman, Yue Lan, newly aware of their connection. Beside him, Hye Won's mental presence vibrated with restless energy.
("She finally activated the mark! Do we need to speak our names in code words?")
("Relax," ) Han Chen soothed. ("My mindspace, my rules. She won't recognize us.")
Through Yue Lan's eyes, they watched her panic.
("Looks like her body in reality is not in suitable position for sustained staying here, let me look....") seeing the scene through Yue Lan's eyes,
(" Aaah, Han Chen Don't look...she is bathing.." )
(
(" I told you this is a bad idea...Anyway now that she established her side, can we talk now? ")
They decided to wait for her to move to the company and agreed to play along as her guardian angel, ofcourse all credit goes to Hye Won.
Yue Group
Yue Lan, reached her office. Read through the schedule and paperworks assistant brought in. Then, when only two of them were in the soundproof room, a man's voice sounded.
<" Hey...can you hear us?">
Yue Lan looked around in panic as sound seemed distant but still clear in all directions. The secretry infront has no change, meaning she hasn't heard.
" Did you hear something? " "No miss"
The male voice sounded again, <" Ofcourse she can't hear us..">
She left for washroom, if it was a hallucination like in the morning, she doesn't want to appear crazy infront of people.
She was panicked. Suddenly hearing these hallucinations suddenly, what happened to me?.
While looking at the mirror. <"Helloooo? Testing, testing—can you hear us?"> A bubbly female voice echoed around the tiled walls this time.
"Who's there?" Yue Lan hissed, checking under sink. Empty.
<"Oh good, the connection works!">
<"Took you long enough to activate the mark,"> an annoyed voice sounded. "
<" ..... ! Don't scare her!">
Yue Lan's reflection showed two faint lights hovering near her shoulders—one gold, one silver. Now, through soul connection, any visions can be augmented to another's side if Han Chen willed it. He wasn't present there in anyway.
When she swatted at them, her hand passed right through. Yue Lan backed against the cool tiles, heart hammering. "What are you? Am I going mad?"
<"Okay, real talk,"> the female voice continued. <"We're sort of... guardian spirits?.">
Yue Lan pressed her fingers to her temples. "I'm hallucinating. Stress-induced psychosis. I knew I should've taken those sleeping pills—"
<"Not a hallucination!"> The gold light darted in front of her face. <"Pinch yourself">
....
Yue Lan's breath caught. "What...what are you?"
<"Think of us as..."> The male voice paused. <"..... customer support.">
<"***! That's terrible!"> The silver light bobbed excitedly. <"We're your fate adjustment team! You've got this..." > She dropped into a dramatic whisper, <"big disaster coming.">
Yue Lan's fingers instinctively went to the mark beneath her blouse. "What disaster?"
<"The 'you nearly die' kind,"> the golden light group said cheerfully.
<"He's joking! Mostly!"> Hye Won interjected. <"Just go about your business, and when weird stuff happens—just think of reaching out to us...through the symbol on your chest " >
"..."
<.....so can't others see you?> Yue lan asked in mind.
<"No only you can..">
<" So what do you want to do now?">
<" Help you">
Yue Lan stared at their floating light forms in her reflection. "
The lights dimmed momentarily. <"Too bad!" > Hye said brightly. <"No refunds on divine interventions!">
....
Yue Lan exited the restroom, her fingers discreetly adjusting her blazer collar to hide the faint glow still emanating from her mark. The secretary glanced up from her desk.
<"Everything alright, Ms. Yue? I thought I heard—">
<"Phone call." > Yue Lan waved her mobile without breaking stride.
Absent minded she went to the lift, checking her coworkers faces to see they show any recognition of the two small points of lights sitting on her shoulder's only she could see...
Nothing.
Two pinpricks of light hovered at her periphery—one gold, one silver—as she entered the elevator.
<"Ooooh, lying to your staff already?" Hye's voice chirped in her mind. <"We're gonna get along great!">
<" Hey, we will be inside you, just talk to us normally as if reaching out"> Both the light groups disappeared.
Yue Lan's eye twitched. She stabbed the elevator button harder than necessary.
"What on earth is going on!!!"
******
ALU Campus - Simultaneously
Han Chen slouched in his lecture hall, chin propped on one hand as Professor Deng droned about contractual law. In their shared mindspace, Hye Won spun in lazy circles.
<"She's handling this surprisingly well, I am excited playing a fairy" > Hye Won mused, watching through Yue Lan's eyes as she marched down the executive corridor. <"Most people scream If this happened—">
< I would have just observed her reaction. Assess baseline psychological stability before proceeding to reveal things and no reference to who I am or why I am doing this... Why need this extra play?">. He paused. <" Is it really necessary? Can't we just help her when needed?"> Han Chen asked.
<" No...come on, being with you is like a roller coaster. Few days ago we flew like birds, now we are back in the same old boring life~ right?"> Hye pointed out her view.
"Focus." Han still in their connection.
"Right, right!" Hye perked up.
Yue Pharmaceuticals - Executive Conference Room
The boardroom hummed with quiet tension as Yue Lan took her seat among the other division heads. Across the table, the Qin delegation shifted uncomfortably, their lead negotiator Director Luo mopping his brow with a silk handkerchief.
The chair reserved for their heir remained conspicuously empty.
"Ms. Yue," Director Luo began, his fingers drumming a nervous rhythm against the contract folder, "Given Young Master Qin's... extended convalescence, we've revised our proposal." He slid the document forward with a forced smile.
After a bit of going through, everyone on Qin's team had their faces furrowed.
"Let's be clear why we're here," began Legal Director Chen, sliding forward a termination notice. "Eighteen months of stalled progress on the joint biotech venture. Zero Phase 1 deliverables. And now..." He slid back Qin's revised proposal with distaste.
Operations Head Li snorted. "Seventy-thirty profit split? After we've already invested in three cleanrooms?"
...
< Oh its Qin group.>
<....You know?> Yue Lan asked back.
<...>
< .....So, the smiley face incident was you??> Hye Won only laughed as she was familiar with his antics. Yue Lan also exclaimed internally.
< yeah, he was planning on getting many influential peoples and Yue Lan's favour which didn't happen in original timeline. Well, I was a little jealous too back then....Oh and I went and sacked away his new soul, looks like the old guy Qin Jianwei's original self is risen again>
(Jealous?) Hye Won spoke in volumes.
<... You what?, I thought he was a nice guy> Yue Lan mused internally.
< Hmm,...don't mind him. He is not the original whether nice or not. Think of him as some background character. >
Talking inside, Yue Lan waited as her colleagues dissected the absurd terms, and internally musing over some revelations.
Predatory IP Clauses – Vague language that could let Qin claim derivative research. Martial Sect Footnote – A bizarre mention of "collaborative oversight from Azure Mountain Society". No Penalty Offers – Just demands for extended timelines despite their breaches
Director Luo stammered, "Young Master Qin's vision for this partnership—"
"Was compelling when he presented it," Yue Lan cut in, her voice crisp. "Not when delivered secondhand with these..." She flicked the contract pages, "...amateurish land grabs."
A murmur of agreement circled the table. Finance VP Wu leaned forward. "Our motion is simple: termination with prejudice. Full reimbursement for infrastructure costs per Clause 12.B."
The Qin team erupted in protests until Director Chen silenced them with raised fingers. "Worse than your terms," he said coolly, "is the insult to our due diligence. Did you truly think we wouldn't notice?" he tapped his tablet, displaying:
Patent Maps – Highlighting how Qin's proposed "collaborations" overlapped exactly with Yue's proprietary research. Sect Affiliation Reports – Azure Mountain's known hostility toward biotech- products online.
Security Director Meng's eyes narrowed. "I'll be reviewing all site access logs." As the Qin delegates paled, meeting eventually concluded. Yue Lan stood. "We'll send our dissolution terms by 5 PM. Sign them, or we freeze the escrow accounts." She paused at the door. "And Director Luo? Tell your 'martial partners' that pharma NDAs cover sect espionage too."
****